Red Sox still see David Ross as a keeper

BOSTON — The Red Sox figure to unload as many veterans as will bring back value in the days leading up to Thursday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline. A last-place sequel to last year’s World Series title has rendered just about every pending free agent on the

BOSTON — The Red Sox figure to unload as many veterans as will bring back value in the days leading up to Thursday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline. A last-place sequel to last year’s World Series title has rendered just about every pending free agent on the Boston roster expendable.

Except one.

In the aftermath of the release of A.J. Pierzynski and the call-up of rookie Christian Vazquez, 37-year-old David Ross has found himself with a significant role — not just backing up Vazquez, but mentoring him and teaching him both by instruction and example how to be a major-league catcher. There’s almost no chance Ross is traded away this week, even if other teams come calling.

“I hope he’s here next year, too,” Vazquez said.

Ross has caught more than 5,000 innings behind the plate in a career that has taken him through six different organizations. Though he’s started more than 80 games in a season only once, he has carved out a reputation as one of the best defensive catchers in the game.

What Ross has absorbed and experienced over the years, he’s able to use to accelerate the learning process of the prodigiously talented Vazquez.

“I can’t imagine having a catching prospect and putting him around anybody any better,” said Jake Peavy, shortly before he was traded. “David is a selfless player. David has the purest of motives. He wants this kid to be the best he could ever be. He’s not worried about his job security. He’s not worried about anything but the Boston Red Sox and helping this kid become a better player.”

“He helps me in everything,” Vazquez said.

That’s not to say the entire function Ross serves on this Red Sox team is as a mentor to Vazquez. That wouldn’t be fair to a player who has slugged over .500 since early June, even in irregular playing time.

On days when Jon Lester pitches — as was the case on days when Peavy pitched before his trade over the weekend — Ross is on the field as part of an effort to win the game. There have been suggestions by those who keep close track of pitch-framing statistics that Ross has contributed significantly to the improvement Lester has enjoyed in his strikeout and walk rates this season.

“I don’t want to put the Crash Davis tag on him,” Boston bench coach Torey Lovullo said, a reference to the grizzled veteran in the iconic movie “Bull Durham.” “He’s way better than that. But he is a guidance counselor and a mentor because he welcomes it and wants to do it, and knows that Christian’s value to this organization is going to be pretty special.”

“The game now is so full of stats and numbers that you can calculate,” Peavy said. “But you can’t calculate a catcher getting pitches called for you. You can’t calculate the way a catcher reads swings and calls the right pitch and manages the game from inning to inning, manages lineups. That stuff can’t be calculated. You can put all the numbers and statistics you want on David Ross, and none of it does any justice to his value of what he does.”

But even on those days, Vazquez is tagging along with Ross in the pregame meetings, going over scouting reports, talking about how to pitch to certain hitters. Vazquez then is watching from the bench to see how Ross puts that scouting report into play against a particular lineup.

The next day, and often the day after that as well, Vazquez gets his own chance to put the scouting report into play against the same lineup, Those days, it’s Ross who watches.

“He’s the guy who’s watching over him, critiquing, helping him through different situations, reassessing what was right and what was wrong — especially after the game,” Lovullo said.

Sometimes what Vazquez is learning is fundamental. He said he’s learned the value of setting up late behind the plate in the three weeks, not giving the hitter a chance to glimpse out of the corner of his eye whether a pitch might be on the inner half or the outer half.

“If I can help my starting pitcher or my relievers by moving late, if the hitter can’t see me, it’s better because they’re guessing,” he said. “That’s better for my pitcher.”

Sometimes what Vazquez is learning is more subtle.

Scouting reports tend to dictate how the Red Sox will approach a given hitter. But those reports are limited by the abilities of the pitcher on the mound. Fastballs in on the hands, for example, don’t work nearly as well with a pitcher whose velocity tops out at 89 miles per hour as they do with a pitcher who throws 95.

“Rossy goes out and delivers the game plan,” said Red Sox catching instructor Dana Levangie, “and Christian says, ‘Now I understand. We talked about pitching this guy inside a whole lot. We never pitched him in.’ Well, that guy on the mound wasn’t the right guy to pitch him in.”

Vazquez has learned about managing the running game — like noticing when a baserunner might be leaning one way or the other. Though the runner was called safe, replays indicated he picked a runner off second base on Saturday night at Tampa Bay.

Vazquez has learned about using the placement of his glove before the pitch to expand the strike zone by an inch or two, something Ross does so well to steal extra strikes.

And Vazquez has had the chance to pick the brain of a catcher with more than 5,000 innings behind the plate in his career — one who has embraced the role of mentor.

“With Christian and the learning process, who knows where it’s going to go?” Levangie said. “It’s incredible right now — and David is going to be a big part of it from now until the very end. He’s the right man to do it.”